Fireside chat 3   Troublemakers
Final in a three part series, Cecil Pooles interview with Quentin Cockburn Q.C  The Settlers Club Melbourne…

 

 

 

 

 

Cecil: Quentin you’ve spoken at large on the value of real estate and sound management in governance, but you haven’t yet articulated a way of dealing with your vision…

Quentin: My vision?

Cecil: You spoke of your regard to the Great Lady

Quentin: (rapturously)…Oh Maggie,

Cecil: Yes would you like to elaborate??

Quentin: Well it’s simple, we put in place a system in which things worked like clockwork.  And in this respect i’m indebted to Maggies pioneering work. In the old days department heads would give objective advice, since we’ve streamlined the selection process, we now get the advice we want to hear. This is a boon for growth, for development….

Cecil: Can you cite an example.?.

Quentin: Well the East West link for example,   it’s awfully expansive, the taxpayer will foot most of the bill, it’s of dubious value to the average motorists, but very good news for the shareholders.

Cecil: Shareholders?,

Quentin: We, Baulderstones, BHP, Boral, I’ve got shares on most of them, had a huge holding in Leightons, which i had to divest when i became chairman of Vicroads, something about a conflict of interest..

Cecil: Is this for the public good?…

Quentin: I’m Public… and after the de-sal plant, our excellent use of public private partnerships achieved a new height, a new level

Cecil: A new level?

Quentin: Well somewhere above the existing level, of the level playing field..

Cecil: Oh i see

Pause , sound of bottle being opened, poker raking the coals, and top being chopped off another cigar…

Cecil: And how did you determine priorities for public funding?

Quentin: Oh that’s simple we selected the ones we liked for private public partnerships, (good little earners) and those we didn’t feel would be worthwhile, we’d make good on our promises by initiating, discussion  papers, feasibility reports, interim studies,.. They’d work a treat, nothing would ever happen, and eventually the public would forget about it..

Cecil: Was that due process?

Quentin: Buggerred if i know the same thing works federally, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, you get nothing from the public, that’s why we need lobbyists!!

Cecil: Lobbyists?

Quentin: It establishes a hierachy, and i must say you’re not going to enjoy the largesse of a corporate box at the footy by extending a railway track, or tram stop. You’ve got to work with the big end of town, the movers and shakers, trips, entertainment, the girls….. (sound of guffawing, and then uncontrollable coughing spasm).

Cecil: And did you encounter much internal wrangling?

Quentin: What do you mean…. Troublemakers, is that what you’re saying..

Quentin: Well yes……We had a simple strategy for troublemakers, those who fancy themselves as thinking beyond the square. They used to be in every department. Left overs from some Jim Cairns inspired wet dream. Full of ideas, full of all this idealism, this cant about Community value!!! Took us ages to weed em out…. But eventually we did weed them out..

Cecil: How did you do that?..

Quentin: Well it’s implicit in the system of management, you establish competition, and management processes, that clarify, refine due process…

Cecil: Is that arduous?..

Quentin: No not really, Fear, is a very simple instrument, nothing inspires compliance like fear, and vulnerability… keep them pliant, maleable…

Cecil: Is it fair?…

Quentin: Fair?… fairness has nothing to do with it, this is Governance!!!